>> claire mccaskill? >> thank you to the press association. it is great to be here and thank you to both tawed and jonathan for being is great. this election will be quite a contrast for missourians, but not because we are at opposite ends. i am in the middle. he is so far on the fringe that is where the contrast, sen. there have been many comments made in this campaign made by the congressman that i find unacceptable, but it is his views that i think will be painful for american -- for the syrian families. i am proud of my record where i have worked with many families to do many things. -- for missouri families. like cutting taxes, over a trillion dollars for small businesses and working families. cleaning up or contracting and

protecting and promoting american jobs. todd has worked closely with michelle bachman, and that they have really pushed things that would really harm azeri families. on march 8 at 2011 todd aitken said i do not like social security -- todd akin said i do not like social security. not only does he not like it, he would privatize it, put it on the roller-coaster of wall street. he would raise the retirement age and the were the benefit. on august 18, 2011 he said medicare was unconstitutional. since that time he has in fact voted several times to vouch erize medicare.

i believe we can lower the deficit and debt, but we will not do it, we should not do it, we cannot do it at the expense of the important programs for seniors. >> welcome, everybody. thank you for coming out today. i want to give a big thanks to the missouri press association and giving me a chance to introduce myself to the misery and people. like many of you, i am tired of the constant fighting of republicans and democrats. beating the other team has become more informed than finding solutions to american's problems. america is on the verge of a financial collapse, and both parties are to blame with the reckless borrow, taxes and spend parties. for as long as i can remember, and most of you as well,

republican and democrat politicians have offered up solutions, but america's problems have only gotten worse. higher and higher taxes. more intrusions in your business and personal life. enough is enough. i will stand up for your personal freedom. i will stand up for marriage equality, legalization of marijuana. i am fiscally responsible. i want the government to be a good steward of your tax dollars. i am tired of reckless spending and record -- reckless taxing. i will advocate on the part of a balanced government amendment. the government should live within its means, just like the people of missouri. supporting my candidacy been supported smaller government and lower tax level across the board. we did not meet politicians telling is who we can love, what to do with their own money or what we can do with their own body. the libertarian with me november

6. >> time to turn to the question segment. i will ask the first question. it will go first to talodd akin. the misery race was thrust into the national spotlight after commons that the congressman made about legitimate rate. the congressman has apologized repeatedly. in what context of this matter and will contact should voters consider it on voting day? >> i have answered this question repeatedly, and i do not believe this election overall is about talk, but really about to visions of what america is. are we going to go down the path of greece that constantly has a bigger government, always taxing more and basically destroying the economy, or are we going to the path america has always been on, a path where we allow

freedom, the american dream to flourish? where we do not question under the burden of washington. that is the choice of two different americas. it seems to me what a senator should be doing is taking the common sense that you and i know that is here in missouri and taking that to washington instead of dragging all of this stuff from washington and dumping it on to the state of missouri and killing jobs, destroying the economy, and crushing the american dream. that is what this election is really about. it is not about words. it is about two different voting records that are the exact opposite. when you vote 98% of the time with obama and tell us you are a regular middle of the road, that takes a lot of guts. i have to give her credit for that. >> to what extent should the, still a matter? matter?ll

>> i think he opened the view to how he thinks for missourians. they say a lot about how he views things, and that is where the need to pay attention. i believe a rape victim should be allowed to have emergency contraception in order to avoid pregnancy. todd akin does not. i believe his view is extreme and out of the mainstream for most missourians. he wants to abolish the middle wage. he wants to do away with student loans. think what would happen to columbia, missouri, it's the only kids who could get college loans were the rich kids. he wants to privatize medicare,

privatizes security. he wants to do away with the student lunch program. he is one of a handful. i think there were four or five members of the united states congress that voted to eliminate the child nutrition program. the vote was something like 416- 5. i do not think that is the mainstream compromise, willing to fix problems attitude that we need to send to washington. all that will do is contribute to more gridlock. it is not what he said that was the problem, it is what he believes. like many of you, i found the comments insulting to the victims of rape, insinuating their crime was not in some sense legitimate. i believe it shows career politicians have grown to secluded in washington and has forgotten what life is like outside of politics.

i was astonished to find he sits on the science committee, yet failed to understand is the eighth grade biology. what i think it does is illustrates the point that we have 530 by people who were to regulate everything, but produce nothing. we really need to step back and understand his views should not be regulated by the government. he speaks for smaller government, yet he wants to push government morality on other individuals because they choose a different way of life. as your senator, i think the issues of abortion are usually a wedge issue to take away and distract from the important issues like balancing the budget, raining in the spending, ending the wars and restoring your personal freedom. so step back and take a look at the important issues. >> there were several characters

characterization's of your personality. take a few minutes for rebuttal. >> if you did not believe the federal government should not do everything, that does not mean you do not believe in it. my comments about student loans are why don't we leave it the way it was a couple of years ago were private lenders could be involved? just because you believe in private lenders, this anomaly -- does not mean you do not believe in student loans. or school lunches. and if you do not want the federal government to do it. the mindset is the federal government has to do everything for us all the time. you want to talk about medicare, let's talk about boats. -- votes. >> he raised the issue of you

wanting to take 700 billion out of medicare. chance for rebuttal. >> no one is a private lenders cannot lend to students. they can do that right out. they did not want to do unless the federal government was backing them up and there were making a cut off a bit. all we did was take up the middle man who is taking a cut with no risk. and put that money towards helping more students. no one is keeping banks from lending to students now. secondly, on the medicare cuts, ofs is the biggest coppflopper this campaign. as president clinton says, it takes a lot of brass to be against something you are for. he knows the right and budget took the same savings. they gave another tax cut to kardashian, lebron james.

>> i'm ok. >> we can go on rebuttal all day, but we must move on to the next round of questions. the next question goes first to kaskilly.lear castlaire mc . >> the average prices have risen 42% according to the u.s. department of education. what specific policy to propose as the most efficient solution to the declining affordability of higher education? >> i will tell you it is not to eliminate the department of education. as i just indicated, what we did is we took the middleman out of the student loans and took the

cup they were making with no risk, because the federal government was backing those loans, and we took the money and increase the amount of the pell grant, which allows more kids to go to college. this is the land of opportunity. this is where we believe anyone can do anything and personal freedom is very important, but to get to the next rung and the latter, there is a lot of families that cannot get their kids to college. i do not want to shut that door for them. it is important i think that we keep the pell grants and place. i think we also have to pay attention to student tuition. i think it is bad that we are not investing more in higher education at the state and local level. unlike many others, i think we should raise the cigarette tax. i am embarrassed it is the lowest in the country. it is 17 cents per pack. we could raise it by a dollar

and still be the cheapest in the midwest. ." should be getting cheaper, not more expensive. i would like to open up the door for on trepan doors to come -- on top and worse to come into education. we need to look at why the tuition prices are raising. i believe easy to secure government loans have increased the price of college. with kids receiving more money, college institutions have raised the price. if there was not as much money being went out, college campuses would be empty in be forced to lower the price of tuition. i think greed has played a big price. and i would like to work on investing in education. and i think it is something that

is important but should be done at the state and local level. >> thank you for a good question. this is one that affects a whole lot of people. there was a young man in my office just the other day. he said i am glad i am out of college, but i do owe $100,000 and looking for a job. i thought how hard it is to try to save $100,000 for the undergraduate degree. and how many years it will take to set that money aside. this is a big problem affecting all whole lot of people. the question is, why is it the college education is spiraling up in costs? part of it is because of the government. when the government keeps getting into things, it affects the marketplace. what is happening is the government is giving these loans and encouraging prices to go up.

where does that stop? putting people into an incredible vice, killing jobs, and facing kids with and a possible choice. you want an education, but you cannot pay for it. this is a real tension, but an example of a stumbling down on failure. when the government gets into things, a lot of times it messes it up. a classic example is fannie mae and freddie mac and the entire economic mess we are in. how many more things to we want to inject the government into? they are the ones driving the cost. we need a little free enterprise work. >> next question from bill miller and go first to jonathan. the u.s. postal service is

very important to the room -- to the people in the room today. it is now trying to go into a program that would be competing in a bear to newspapers. in many cases the newspaper is the largest customer for the post office of community. what i would like to know is, what is your position on this issue and other issues of closing rural post offices and eliminating saturday delivery? what would you do in the senate to help rural newspapers and community newspapers that depend on the postal service? >> like many of the things run by the government, the postal service is one that is very inefficient. i of a friend who works as a mail carrier. he gets four days straight of 10 hours per day so that every time he is needed he gets more overtime. the federal government, instead of hiring new individuals will

prefer to pay double time or time and half to one individual, wasting more money than hiring more people and creating more jobs. i think the postal service should cut costs to remain around. we need to maybe increase the price of a stamp, and i would be in favor of closing postal service on saturday. we are in a fiscal crisis. we need to make some tough choices. if one of them is cutting back on some of the services, we could wait until monday to receive the mail. >> limit say, first of all the postal service is something that is constitutional. government is supposed to be doing that. all of you have grown up knowing the postman. you are expecting a package you ordered and waiting and waiting and hoping the postman will bring it. i think there is a part of american tradition, but there is

a principle involved, and i think the best way when the government is doing something is to have each things it on its own base. that way we all know we are not transferring money from one thing to another thing or covering up something. believe the postal service needs to follow the principle and that needs to match the cost of providing services. that is the best way to solve this and all kinds of other questions. that is one reason we have a gasoline tax, because it pays for the roads. if you do not want to pay the gasoline tax, do not buy so much gasoline. i believe that is probably the best principle over all to deal with the questions with the post office. >> i will try to quote todd akin on this. he said, "we can keep raising the prices, and it's the big --

and if they get too high, the private sector can take over." we have had the most reliable postal service in the world. they have cut billions in expenses over the past several years. they have shrunk the work force. they have become much more efficient. what they have been required to do is pre-fund pensions and health care for 75 years. no one is required to pre-fund their pensions and health care for 75 years. no one in the governmental sector is required to do that. it has got them into a cash flow problem. when i will tell you, and you know this because you are from rural communities, rural post office more than bricks and mortar. i grew up in houston. i still remember with the post

offices were in those communities. it is a place the community came together and fell united. six days delivery is important for seniors that need their medicine, businesses who utilize the postal service in order to exist. the bill is bipartisan and saves money. congressman aitken is part of the gridlock that will not pass it. i will ask you to go back to washington. stop campaigning. go back to washington and help us pass the postal bill. >> i think i heard what the answer was. if you cannot make the thing work, we will take money from somewhere else to help pay for it. i do not know that that is a very responsible solution. the idea or the fact that the rural post offices are important, i never said there were not important. i think they're great, but there

has to be some kind of fiscal responsibility. it is not responsible to say take all of the stuff you want, and we will somehow make money appear. that is where we're going. because of policies like that and thinking like that from claremont castle, that is why we are running over one trillion dollars that we do not have every year. you want to talk about gridlock, let's talk about the senate. it is completely stuck. it has not done a budget for 1200 days. let me tackle the budget first. this bill is the school responsible. it continues to make the post office reliant on their income. on the budget, congressman a good nose last summer instead of passing a resolution that the appropriators absolutely ignored every year, the only way you spend money is with an

appropriations bill. it is not a budget resolution. appropriators usually ignore it. we passed a law last year that limited the size of the budget for two years. it actually says in the law, if you go to our website, you can read it. we did that because we wanted to put a lid on the appropriators and keep the spending down as a matter of law for two years. this is a political talking point and it is unfair. >> time for the next question from jeff fox ago first to congressman todd akin. >> an estimated 1000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. what is the best approach to perk them -- to the medicare on a permanently secure financial footing? >> putting medicare on first the

secure financial footing means repealing obama care. no. pretty hard to say you're in favor of medicare in cut $70 billion out of it. the second thing is even worse. it creates a 15-person board that will effectively be the people deciding who gets medical treatment and who does not. this is cover-up world -- government rationing. if you want government to work properly, we need to get away from the concept that government has to do everything in solve everything. the government sets the prices of the cost of everything in medicine. we did not want the government setting prices. what i think we should do is to allow a series of different

people to offer medical care to seniors and let them choose which one they want. it is a whole lot better to choose between different providers that have the choice of only the federal government. i think we need to get rid of price setting, which never works. go back to 1600 in england. and never works. just allow providers to offer the service to senior so they have choices. -- it never works. >> be affordable health care act is not cut one dime in medicare benefits. it realizes savings by taking some of the big profits away from insurance companies, the corporate welfare they were making off of medicare advantage. it lowers the reimbursement to hospitals, but it does not cut a dime of medicare benefits. once again, the same 700 billion he voted for in the paul ryan plan a couple of times.

it closes the dought hole and extends the solvency of medicare for eight years. what i did that here is his plan. his plan is to privatize medicare. he wants to give seniors a voucher. then you are on your own. if the premiums go up any cannot afford it, you are on your own. how do we fix it? we need to do some more aggressive means testing. i know i am not supposed to say we're gorda to do anything like that, but i believe in it. i do not think we can afford to prescriptionrump's' drugs. he can buy his own. we can enact savings programs that are working. st. john's hospital in springfield took the medicare -- medicare population and with quality and control and customer satisfaction they were able to

reduce $17 million in medicare payments that were owed. as a result, they got a bonus of $4 million. that is incentivizing. we need to incentivize prevention and spending less money. many of the government's entitlement programs, medicare and medicaid are all coming to a cross. they are coming towards a financial cliff where we will not be able to save them if we do not make drastic cuts now. i would propose block granting the state's money based on population to deliver health care for seniors and people over 55. i feel the state's would be more close to the people of this date, more apt to listen to the legislatures and provide you with a better service for your dollars. i think anytime you expect the

government to manage your money efficiently, we can look at the record of spending money recklessly with mismanagement. i feel we really need to make some tough choices or we will all be left with nothing. >> would you like to respond to that? the haiti it is the senior has a choice in medicare. instead of having one size fits all, which is the big government solution. we're trying to allow choices. there is one thing in madison that i do not like, and that is when an insurance company gets between the doctor and patient. there is one thing worse, and that is when the federal government gets between the doctor and patient. i do not support, and neither do 71 percent of the misery public support the bright idea of having the efficiency of the

federal government and compassion of the irs running the health care. i have voted 30 times to repeal it. when i get to the senate, i will vote to make sure it gets repealed totally. >> i think it is important to remember that there is a lot of misinformation about this bill. there is not a government plan and it. it is all private insurance. there is good things in it. he wants to repeal the ability of an insurance company to say you are out of luck because you've had the nerve to be sick before. he wants to repeal kids being able to stay on your policy until there 26 years old. he wants to repeal the insurance companies having to refund your premiums if they decide to spend most of their money on more people to deny your claims,

rather than on your health care. i think if missourians will give this legislation a chance, they will be pleasantly surprised. >> the next question goes first to senator claire mccaskill. >> what correct issue deerfield least prepared to address and, you better prepare yourself to do with it? issue in therent u.s. senate are you least prepared to address and what will better prepare you to deal with it? >> when most senators were avoiding town halls because the debate had gone intense, i was out there doing town hall on the health care bill. have done so many wordtours

on veterans' benefits and manufacturing. what really prepares the best for my work is staying in constant contact with the people, because that is what this is about. it is not about me in a fancy title. it is about the syrians and the programs that matter to them. it was looking out for them and making sure we do reduce spending and get rid of waste will earmarks. one reason i knew we had to work on veterans' benefits as i spent time in the veterans community. i heard about how unfair it was congressman or supplanting their government for local planning on highway projects. that is what prepares me most to do my job, working with and listening to the people of the state that i love. >> i am not a career politician,

just a regular, ordinary american like many of you. our career politicians do not seem to be serious about addressing the problems facing our nation. they're more concerned with getting reelected. the thing that prepares me for this job is just being from the ground level. i understand that have an open mind and listen to the people of the state. when i propose legislation, i bow represent the people of missouri. i will represent the people of missouri. one of the biggest problems in america are career politicians. we need term limits across the board. congress should be a revolving door of fresh ideas. >> todd akin. >> no matter how much you work and prepare and study, when you are working in congress, you'll get issues that you do not know that much about.

we run into that all the time. our job is to get to speed on the issue and tried to render a good judgment. the things most difficult are the ones you are not quite sure what the answer is when you first hear it. on the wall street bailout, we were approached and henry paulson looked like he was going to disintegrate. the whole world economy is going to collapse unless you give this $700 billion. we had to make a decision. he gave us to lousy choices. the common sense of missouri says look for a third solution. once you figure out what is going on, you find out there is a principle behind all things. you have to focus on that principle, but the politics aside pat and do the right thing for the people of our state. -- put politics aside and do the right thing for the people of our state.

our job is to find the principle, do the right thing, and a year or two later, the politics is gone. we could have changed accounting rules and fixed the problem without spending $700 billion. >> our next question will come from bill miller. >> are you satisfied with this country's foreign policy in dealing with iraq and afghanistan? if you are not satisfied, what you think president obama should consider in a way of changes? >> i am not satisfied. as a libertarian, i seek a world at peace with other nations. i look to thomas jefferson's

quote for inspiration. america should stop acting as the world's policeman. i do believe in a strong national defense, but the optimum word is defense, not offense. we do not have the money to continue the wars. our money could be more wisely spent here at home. >> todd akin. >> it is important to have a foreign policy to start with. you have to have some basic principles, the guidelines. that needs to an acute -- include iraq, afghanistan, a whole lot of other countries as well. the problem is we have not had that. what it seems like the

vacillating policies we have almost punished our friends and helped our enemies. we decided to turn our backs on two of our allies, the czech republic and poland. we had plans to build missile defense. we gave that is a concession to russia. how much has russia helped us with iran? how much has russia helped us with the situation in afghanistan? giving special attention to chavez and turning our back on netanyahu when he wanted to meet with the president, the sending of mixed signals is very destructive to foreign policy. in the case of egypt, for instance, we talked a little bit about that in a press release. this is a country that should be protecting our embassy. while we give the money? let's withhold any money for egypt until they start acting like a nation, protect our embassy, and start not

fundamentally insulting us by built -- by burning our flags? >> claire mccaskill. >> the war in iraq was mississippi. when i went to washington i went with the eyes of an auditor. harry truman is spinning in his grave over what went on in iraq. congressman akin not even go to require competitive contracts in iraq. i helped establish the war contacting commission when i got to washington. no one had paid much attention to this. we found $60 billion -- three years of the entire budget that almost went up in smoke in waste, fraud, and abuse. no one was minding the store. we have begun to clean that up. in afghanistan, i support the mission of training police and

army, but what we are doing is wrong. we're doing the same thing in afghanistan that we did in iraq. investing in highways, power plants, water projects that they cannot maintain. they cannot afford to sustain, and they're getting blown up or not used because they did not have the expertise. we need to pull out -- pull infrastructure money out and bring it back to the united states of america. we need a big bridge near washington, missouri. we need more highways and missouri. we need dam projects on the missouri river. i disagree with that. >> the senator mentioned something about your position on competitive contracts. did you want to respond? >> i believe competitive bidding

is a good thing. what you have going in iraq is pretty interesting. you had people who were terrorists. anything anybody did, they would load up or shoot anybody associated with it. -- they would blow it up or shoot anybody associated with it. the attacks on the idea of roads in afghanistan, the big economy and afghanistan is heroin. her win, you can put on a motorcycle -- heroin, you can put on a motorcycle and take somewhere. i have a kid serving in afghanistan. i have a kid almost killed in iraq. i understand the cost of what we are doing. i want to do it in the right way. >> did you want an additional 45 seconds? >> there was nothing about the contract and in iraq that did that require a competitive luck. there was nothing about that

contracting. they finally did begin to compete for these contracts. the famous halliburton contract that they completely took advantage of the american people on, this was a bill that would require competitive bidding and the congressman voted no. >> the next question goes to todd akin. >> the country cut the federal work force through attrition and freeze pay, close overseas military bases, cap spending at home, raise the gasoline tax, curtail the mortgage interest deduction, raise the payroll tax for social security, reduce entitlements as well as farm subsidies and civilian and

military pensions. it recommended a lower system of taxation. why hasn't this become at least the beginning of a serious discussion about reducing the federal deficit? >> it was the starting point and there were a lot of good ideas in that particular commission. what we really stuck with -- ultimately, you have to put the whole thing into a budget to make it work. you have to balance those different elements and say, what is a reasonable approach? it is a little bit what like families have to do. the budget has been set up for a vote and the budget has passed. was the budget i would have written?

no, it was not quite as conservative. it was still a reasonable approach that puts us back on track to recovery. those budgets, of course, go where? to the senate. what happens when we send bills to the senate? they die. the budget saw in the senate and died. -- sat in the senate and died. that is the reason i am running for the senate. the senate cannot get anything done. it is the fed's rule of law that we are supposed to have a budget every year. i do not think the debt ceiling increase and another 10%, the sequestration of defense, is not an excuse to do and what the law says. >> i agree with the congressmen that the proposal had some good ideas. we need to work off that framework. that was the framework the

president and john boehner are working on when they got in the agreement last summer prior to his passing a budget into law. they were going to try to move $4 trillion of debts off the books. the tea party shut it down. we are working on a bipartisan basis in the senate every day to try to cobble together a plan that will reduce 4-$5 trillion of debt. i am part of that group. we need to reduce mortgage interest. i do not believe anybody buys a second, because of the mortgage interest deduction. we should look at whether we should take a haircut on charitable deductions. we need to look at cutting farm payments. in fact, we did. we stopped all direct payments in the farm bill.

we saved $23 billion in spending in a bipartisan farm bill the. what is more important for 70 in missouri than a farm bill? -- for certainty in missouri than a farm bill? they did not even take it up to vote on it. that is the kind of gridlock we do not meet in washington. >> jonathan dine. >> i agree with a lot of the ideas and the commission, except for the gasoline tax. americans already pay enough at the pump. we should have really nice roads for that much money. it does not go far enough.

a lot of those things were not implemented because of something -- political cowardice, afraid to take on the real issues because they are campaigning, they're worried about reelection. we do need to make some serious choices if we do want to save what we have. it takes someone who was willing to say no to reckless spending, say no to corporate interests. >> todd akin, there were some issues raised about the farm bill. would you like a rebuttal? >> i keep hearing that we passed a budget in the senate. we have not passed a budget in the senate in 1200 days. increasing the debt ceiling is

not the same thing as a budget. increasing the debt ceiling, we do it over and over again as though we can just keep spending money. we cannot do that. that included and what resulted in -- and the sequestration, a second 10% cut in defense. panetta was asked, he is the secretary of defense appointed by obama. this is like shooting yourself in the head. it is not a budget is a disaster. >> read the bill. if he will read the bill, he will find the language specifically that says, this act shall serve as the budget resolution for the fiscal year. this act shall serve as the budget resolution and it lays out the next year. you can read the bill and you can read the budget in the bell.

go on my website and you can read it. guess what happened this year. the appropriators followed it. we cut direct payments, which was hard for many farmers to swallow. it was a hard vote in the senate. the farm bill is essential to missouri. we need to get at the work of getting the farm bill done. >> jonathan dine, did you want 45 seconds on the deficit? >> i am ok. >> this will have to be our last question. >> the trust for america's health -- researchers estimate the projected increase in obesity rates will cost the united states $550 billion

between now and 2013. what policies, if any, do you believe the government should adopt to prevent rising health- care costs caused by obesity- related diseases? >> this is a place that the government should keep their big nose out. i do not think the government needs to be telling people what they should eat or what they should drink. i understand it is a struggle. i am a woman in her 50s, i have seven sizes of clothing in my closet. i go from one end to the other. tried to set a good example, you know, speaking out about it like michelle obama has done, considering the importance of physical activity for our children, making sure we support and promote that in ways that are advisory only and not requirement. also paying for prevention, making sure people can go see their doctors and learning about the dangers of diabetes. if we can bring down diabetes in our adult population by just

10%, it is amazing what it does to the cost curve of are debt and deficit. i would not be someone who thinks the government should get in the business of telling people what they should eat or drink. >> jonathan dine. >> the top five leading causes of death are all related to diet and lifestyle. they are all preventable. diet and exercise can make a big difference. i've been a personal trainer for 15 years. i help people motivate themselves. it is something that anybody can do at any age, but somebody needs to be a role model. the government should make incentives. it is the number one drain on our health care system overall. we do need to have some positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement.

obesity does kill more people than war, murder, crime, drugs, and everything else combined. if that is not a problem with the government should set a role model, i do not know what is. >> todd akin. >> all of us have things in our lives that are challenging. for some people, obesity is one of them. all of us are people. all of us have to try to manage those things and try to do the best we can. when the government starts to overstep and there are problems with jobs and all kinds of stresses, these problems become a lot worse. i agree, this is the first time i've agreed with claire, this is not something the government should do. the federal government is telling you what kind of light bulb you should buy, i am glad there is something the federal

government does not have to do. this is part of being americans. this is part of living the dream in america, that we can challenge ourselves. i think we also have to have a love for each other. we are all americans, we are all god's children. we need to give people a hand when they needed or some encouragement. this is one of a whole series of things that put in the category of self-government. the way that we run our own lives responsibly. this is what has made america

strong, we're good at doing that. >> that is the end of our question and answer session. it is now time for our closing statements. each candidate gets two minutes. >> america that is an absolutely unique and great country. sometimes we forget. we fought two world wars, we have next no territory, crowned no kings, and then we voted to tax ourselves to rebuild our enemies. how often has that happened in world history? we have the oldest written constitution. this is to we are, we are americans. what is the secret of america's greatness? i would believe that it is pretty well captured by jefferson when he said, we believe there is a creative art who gives us life and liberty and pursuit -- a creator who gives us life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

for you to have the liberty of free speech, to be able to go vote or to keep the things you earned and the pursuit of happiness, the essence of the american dream, that every single one of us are different, we are all equally important and each of us can go after what whatever it is we have in our hearts to do. we follow those dreams and america has been built long dream at a time. that makes sense to we are. that is being threatened. and destroyed by people who are building washington, d.c., not protecting life, not protecting liberty, taking so much people -- do you want more washington and big government or do you want to protect the american dream? god himself intended us to have life, liberty, and the pursuit

of happiness. thank you. >> we have a choice. a choice between two candidates that have a much different view, but also the choice of whether we look back and blame or whether we look forward and fix. todd akin loves america and so do i. todd akin believes america is unique and so do i. but we have a different view about how we get to that shiny place on the mountain. we need certainty for our business community. do we get it through gridlock or do we get through compromise? i am very proud that i am part of a group in the senate that believes in bipartisan compromise. i have stood up to my party and work with republicans to move the ball forward on tough compromises that make a

difference. he is part of the gridlock. where is the farm bill? where is the postal bill? where are the bills the tea party is trying to shut down because they refuse to allow them to go forward? i've worked with a long list of republican senators. all these are things i have worked on with republicans to cut spending and to make are spending more responsible. the congressman wants to go back, he wants to go back to the same policies that created this mess in the first place. he wants to go back to a policy were all you have to do is to a another tax cut for the wealthy and everything is going to be fine. no rules of the road for the greed of wall street. cuts in veterans benefits, give another tax cut to tom brady, eliminate student allowance, privatize social security and

medicare and but more cost on the backs of seniors, but give another tax cut to the wealthiest wealthy of america. i do not think we have to do that. let's go forward together and fix it. >> jonathan dine. >> the federal government has exploded in size. no area of your life, your business, or your wallet is free from the meddling of politicians. it does not have to be this way. you could keep more of what you earn. it would be easier to start a new business, building new home, and fuel real economic growth. we need more ordinary americans to stand up and take an active role in government. the political system would be better off if more credibility was given to libertarians. they're more likely to represent a combination of views and think outside the box. it is time we break up some of the stagnation of the two-party system. i come to you as a concerned american citizen who is worried about the direction of this country. i am worried about the uncontrollable debt, the endless wars, i am worried about the erosion of our civil liberties and personal freedoms. i am not a fine-tuned polish

politicians like my opponents, but i do have -- polished politician like my opponents, but i do have genuine qualities. if you do support me, you'll be supporting lower tax levels and more personal freedoms across the board. i promise to keep the republicans out of your bedrooms and the democrats out of your wallets. >> that is all the time we have. let's give the candidates a round of applause. [applause]

>> two senate debates coming up on thursday. friday, from wisconsin, republican tommy thompson debates tammy baldwin. that is live on c-span and c- span.org at 9:00 eastern. mr. thompson was the governor from 2000-2001. >> the first debate between presidential candidates mitt romney and barack obama is next wednesday, october 3. jim lehrer moderates from the university of denver.

watch and in gauge was c-span, including allied debate preview at 7:00 eastern followed by the domestic policy debate at 9:00. post-debate your reactions and comments. follow live coverage on c-span, c-span radio, and online at c- span.org. >> i want c-span every time there is a special -- i watch c- span every time there is a special event going on. every time there's something going on, i want to watch c-span because they have the best, most unbiased view of what is happening. if i want to get spun in a circle, i watched the other news organizations. i watched them on tv or on line. i do not know that i have a favorite show. for me it is always anytime i need to know what is going on, i know c-span will have the real story of what is really happening. >> josh truitt watches c-span on

direct tv. brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> both presidential candidates are making foreign policy addresses today with live coverage on the c-span that works. at 9:00 eastern, mitt romney speaks to the clinton global initiative in new york city. you can see that live on our companion network, c-span 2. at 10:00 president obama addresses the u.n. general assembly in new york live here on c-span. at 12:00 eastern on c-span, back to the clinton global initiative for remarks from president obama. later in the day, mitt romney heads to ohio for a campaign rally with paul ryan. watch live at 3:00 eastern also on c-span. coming up next o